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Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

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21–30 of 111 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

#21
Whenever anyone asks:

Catch-22 East of Eden Remains of the Day Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman

These threads where people suggest multiple books are good to run through. If you see one in a comment that someone else liked, probably try to read the others they listed.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

#24

Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss I am not a fantasy fan in general, but this is my favorite story of all time. The story within a story within a story, characters, world just about perfect. Daemon - Daniel Suarez So little of the SciFi I read is memorable. This book explores SO many topics in memorable ways that I am blown away.

I don't know if it's one of my favorite books, but Daemon is really fun.

Unlike a lot of scifi it doesn't shy away from getting deep into technical details. But unlike most writers he doesn't get tech concepts wrong or use jagon in awkward, non-standard ways. It's obvious that computer tech is is native to him.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

#25

Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss I am not a fantasy fan in general, but this is my favorite story of all time. The story within a story within a story, characters, world just about perfect. Daemon - Daniel Suarez So little of the SciFi I read is memorable. This book explores SO many topics in memorable ways that I am blown away.

I liked Name of the Wind because it's a perfect counterpoint to Lord of The Rings, in a way.

LOTR reads like a classical history book, sometimes literally. Everything is true, everything is tied together. The narrator disappears for omniscience.

Name of the Wind is an obvious post-modern slant with an unreliable narrator. The story Kvothe himself tells obviously makes him seem like a superhero and Rothfuss manages to (whether intentional or not) tell a story about a story that doesn't all add up. I can't say it's my favorite book. But, reading it against LOTR was fascinating.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

#26
Neuromancer.

Such a beautiful execution of a great story set in a captivating world, packing a pageful of storyline, images and innuendos into every line of text. It feels like Gibson was on a strict word diet, but the result is a one of a kind masterpiece of story telling.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

#28
'Q' by Luther Blissett. A fictional romp through the Reformation written from the perspective of a protagonist who is on the losing side of every struggle. Low farce, high politics, a bit of sex, lots of death, and a fabulous take on how Western Christianity came to be how it is today.

Written by a collective of Italian anarchists, bizarrely, and named after a former AC Milan and England footballer. You couldn't make it up. Fabulous.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

#29
I love just about every one of Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile science fiction novels [1] and still love them as an adult. When I was a teenager, Time for the Stars [2] was probably my favorite, but as an adult, I've come to appreciate Citizen of the Galaxy [3] more.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_for_the_Stars

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_of_the_Galaxy

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

#30
post #25

Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss I am not a fantasy fan in general, but this is my favorite story of all time. The story within a story within a story, characters, world just about perfect. Daemon - Daniel Suarez So little of the SciFi I read is memorable. This book explores SO many topics in memorable ways that I am blown away.

I liked Name of the Wind because it's a perfect counterpoint to Lord of The Rings, in a way. LOTR reads like a classical history book, sometimes literally. Everything is true, everything is tied together. The narrator disappears for omniscience. Name of the Wind is an obvious post-modern slant with an unreliable narrator. The story Kvothe himself tells obviously makes him seem like a superhero and Rothfuss manages to…

I would like to hear what your favorite book is.
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